Approaching God through the Lord’s Prayer

“Our Father” … For many of us, simply hearing those two words being spoken evokes a learned response that continues with the phrase “who art in heaven.” In recent years I have been in places where the opening phrase began with Our Mother, Our Parent, Our Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. There are many variations, but I always wondered why in this prayer, the Lord’s Prayer (as Christians call it), why does it begin with the phrase, “Our father who art in heaven?”  

“Our” implies there is more than one participating in this prayer. Does that mean we need an intercessor? A saint? Is it because Jesus is including us with him as a beloved child of God, gracefully adopted by God the father? Does it allude to the familial greeting as a way to connect us to God in a close way, and is that then paired with the “who art in heaven” to give us the juxtaposition of incredible closeness and unfathomable distance?  Could it be because when we begin to pray in this model, a model that Jesus set for us, we need to remember that we should approach being in the presence of the Almighty, God, our Lord and Savoir, the most Holy and most High with a childlike wonder and awe? 

I personally tend to resonate with the idea of approaching God in a childlike manner.  After all, this prayer is found in Matthew 6:9-13, but it is not the only place in scripture where God reminds the faithful that in order to be received into heaven they must become like a child. Just a few chapters before in Matthew 18:3 (NLT) it says: “Then he said, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.’” And there are many other similar scriptures that indicate how important it is to be more like a child if we are going to make it into heaven.

Being childlike in our faith means to approach prayer with humility. It means bowing our heads and closing our eyes, yielding ultimate trust to God. It means approaching the Father, Mother, Parent, Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer with an innocence that can only come from being forgiven and by forgiving others. It means having full dependence on God and God alone. And it means we need to exhibit an openness and willingness to learn, rather than thinking that we have it all figured out.  

Maybe this is your first time ever praying this prayer, or maybe you have prayed it countless times, but I invite you to pray it with a newness of heart, of mind of soul. Pray it with fervor and with wonder and awe.

Here it goes: ”Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses (debts/sins), as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (you can insert Amen here or tag on the optional doxology ending), for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.